Day 39. Lent with the Cure d'Ars: Have a clean face
by VP
Posted on Saturday March 23, 2024 at 01:00AM in Lenten Sermons
"I have told you that you should have neat and clean clothes. I do not mean expensive clothes, but only ones which are not soiled or torn. That is to say, the clothes should be washed and mended if one has no others. There are some who have nothing to change or who, through laziness, do not do so; they do not change their linen, that is, their shirts.
For those who have no other clothes, there is nothing wrong in that. But those who have, do wrong, for it is lacking in respect to our Lord, Who wishes to come into their hearts.
Your hair should be combed and tidy and your face and hands clean. You should never come to the altar without stockings, good or bad.
One should not approve of those young people who, in going up to the altar, appear no differently at that moment than at the time when they are going to a ball or a dance.
I do not know how they go to receive a God Who was humbled and despised by all, with such a parade of vanity and style.
Dear Lord, what a contradiction this is!"
Source: The Sermons of the Cure d'Ars 1960
Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen
Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG